A generalized distance function for preferential choices

Many cognitive theories of judgement and decision making assume that choice options are evaluated relative to other available options. The extent to which the preference for one option is influenced by other available options will often depend on how similar the options are to each other, where similarity is assumed to be a decreasing function of the distance between options. We examine how the distance between preferential options that are described on multiple attributes can be determined. Previous distance functions do not take into account that attributes differ in their subjective importance, are limited to two attributes, or neglect the preferential relationship between the options. To measure the distance between preferential options it is necessary to take the subjective preferences of the decision maker into account. Accordingly, the multi‐attribute space that defines the relationship between options can be stretched or shrunk relative to the attention or importance that a person gives to different attributes describing the options. Here, we propose a generalized distance function for preferential choices that takes subjective attribute importance into account and allows for individual differences according to such subjective preferences. Using a hands‐on example, we illustrate the application of the function and compare it to previous distance measures. We conclude with a discussion of the suitability and limitations of the proposed distance function.     

Grain Size and Parameter Recovery with TIMSS and the General Diagnostic Model

The purpose of this study was to explore the degree of grain size of the attributes and the sample sizes that can support accurate parameter recovery with the General Diagnostic Model (GDM) for a large-scale international assessment. In this resampling study, bootstrap samples were obtained from the 2003 Grade 8 TIMSS in Mathematics at varying sample sizes from 500 to 4000 and grain sizes of the attributes from a unidimensional model to one with ten attributes. The results showed that the eight-attribute model was the one most consistently identified as best fitting. Parameter estimation for more than ten attributes and samples less than 500 failed. Furthermore, the precision of item parameter recovery decreased as the number of attributes measured by an item increased and sample size decreased. On the other hand, the distributions of latent classes were relatively stable across all models and sample sizes.     

排名列表项目展示方式对于项目评价的极化效应

排名列表是帮助消费者快速识别品牌或产品优劣的手段。研究基于空间隐喻理论, 探究排名列表的不同展示方式(垂直vs水平)对消费者列表项目评价的极化影响及作用机制。通过5个实验发现: 消费者对于垂直排名列表相比水平排名列表中的项目具有更大的评价极化效应, 并且验证了项目感知差异在上述关系中的中介作用, 即垂直排名列表的评价极化效应是由个体较高的排名列表项目感知差异所驱动的。此外, 当属性可评估性较低时, 才会出现不同列表项目的评价极化效应; 相反, 当排名列表项目属性可评估性较高时, 该评价极化效应消失。     

Learning to Decide with and without Reasoning: How Task Experience Affects Attribute Weighting and Preference Stability

Certain experiments have shown that reasoning may weaken the stability of people's preferences, especially with regard to well‐learned perceptual judgment and decision‐making tasks, while learning has an opposite, consistency‐enhancing effect on preferences. We examined the effects of these factors in a visual multi‐attribute decision‐making task where reasoning, in contrast, has been found to benefit judgments by making them more stable. The initial assumption in this study was that this benefit would be typical for novel tasks, like the one employed here, and that it would decrease when the task is thoroughly learned. This assumption was examined in three experiments by contrasting it with an alternative assumption that this previously obtained beneficial effect is caused solely by learning, not by reasoning. It was found that learning indeed makes preferences more stable by consolidating the weights of the attributes. Reasoning, however, does not benefit this task when it is completely novel but facilitates learning and stability of the preferences long run, therefore increasing the consistency of the participants in the macrolevel. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Transparency on Framing Effects in Within‐Subject Designs

A long‐lasting assumption about the framing effect is that if the participants discover the purpose of the experiment in a within‐subject design, then this test transparency would trigger them to override their initial answer and make coherent choices. For this reason, researchers try to mask the connection between the two parts of the test by inserting filling questions or a time delay between the two parts of the test. In this research, we explored the extent to which these customarily used masking solutions are effective in increasing test sensitivity for the framing effect. In three experiments, we assessed the effect of masking on the tests of the attribute framing and the risky‐choice framing effects. Contradicting the general belief, our results indicate that these effects are already measurable without any masking or delay and we found no convincing evidence that the attempts to decrease task transparency provide worthwhile benefits for general tests of the effect. Beyond their practical relevance, the results question whether the test is a good measure of coherence rationality and better suit those accounts that suggest that the two parts of the framing tasks cannot be regarded as identical. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Note on the Power of Multiattribute One‐switch Utility Functions

One‐switch utility functions model situations in which the preference between two alternatives switches only once as the outcome of one attribute of both alternatives changes from low to high. Recent research cites evidence that the sum of exponential functions (sumex) is the most convincing type for modelling one‐switch utility functions. Sumex functions allow to model exactly one preferential switch and they are convenient for estimating one‐switch utility functions. However, it is unclear so far if sumex functions are suitable to model preferential switches that are perceivable by a decision maker. This paper first analyses how different the utility of two alternatives before and after a preferential can be modelled with sumex functions given that the preferential switch is caused by a particular attribute outcome improvement. It thereafter investigates how accurately decision makers perceive such utility differences. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Flushtration Count Illusion: Attribute substitution tricks our interpretation of a simple visual event sequence

When faced with a difficult question, people sometimes work out an answer to a related, easier question without realizing that a substitution has taken place (e.g., Kahneman, 2011, Thinking, fast and slow. New York, Farrar, Strauss, Giroux). In two experiments, we investigated whether this attribute substitution effect can also affect the interpretation of a simple visual event sequence. We used a magic trick called the ‘Flushtration Count Illusion’, which involves a technique used by magicians to give the illusion of having seen multiple cards with identical backs, when in fact only the back of one card (the bottom card) is repeatedly shown. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that most participants are susceptible to the illusion, even if they have the visual and analytical reasoning capacity to correctly process the sequence. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that participants construct a biased and simplified representation of the Flushtration Count by substituting some attributes of the event sequence. We discussed of the psychological processes underlying this attribute substitution effect.     

重参数化多分属性DINA模型的多级评分拓广——基于等级反应模型

多分属性认知诊断模型（CDMs）比传统的二分属性CDMs提供更详细的诊断反馈信息,但现有大部分多分属性CDMs并不具备直接分析多级（或混合）评分数据的功能。本文基于等级反应模型对重参数化多分属性DINA模型进行多级评分拓广,开发一个可处理多级评分数据的等级反应多分属性DINA模型。首先通过实证数据分析呈现新模型的现实可应用性;然后通过模拟研究探究新模型的参数估计返真性。结果表明,新模型满足同时处理多分属性和多级评分数据的现实需求;且具备良好的心理计量学性能,但对测验质量有一定要求（e.g., 题目质量较高且测验Qp矩阵具有完备性等）。     

复合刺激潜意识知觉的属性分离

通过四种复合刺激的属性分离实验,检验刺激不同属性在潜意识知觉中的差异。结果表明,刺激的不同属性在刺激材料潜意识知觉中具有不同的作用。验证了潜意识知觉心理加工的部分优先理论。检验了基于控制迫选任务中比较刺激所建立的复合刺激潜意识知觉属性分离模型的有效性。     

Preferences for Job Attributes Associated with Work and Family: A Longitudinal Study of Career Outcomes

We examined the relationship between family responsibilities, job attribute preferences, and career-related outcomes (salary, management level, job satisfaction) in a longitudinal study of 171 women and men students in the same MBA program. Findings indicated that preferences for high salary and good advancement opportunities assessed when students entered the MBA program predicted satisfaction with their salary and advancement outcomes 3 years later. Preferences did not predict actual salary or management level outcomes, however. Together, these findings suggested that individuals may adjust their feelings of satisfaction to reduce dissonance created by their inability to attain higher salaries or a higher management rank. Perhaps because these individuals were in the early stage of their management careers, we found no significant associations between family responsibilities and career-related outcomes. An earlier version of this paper was presented as part of the symposium, “You can't have all of it all of the time: Moderators of the relationship between family and career,” at the Academy of Management in New Orleans, LA, August 2004.